Task 1: Summarize the strategic position of Schultz Wines Limited

a. What type of organization is Schultz Wines Limited?

Schultz Wines is a listed Australia company. It was established in 1840s by one of the founding winemaking families of Barossa Valley in South Australia who had immigrated from Germany. It has been run by the fifth generation, Frederich Schultz, since 1983 when his father retired. The company was listed on the Australia Stock Exchange in 1996.

b. What industry, product segments/markets does Schultz Wines operate in?

Schultz Wines ranked 7th among the Australian wine producing companies. Core activities cover harvesting, crushing, fermentation, bottling and distributing. It produces a diverse range of high quality premium varietal wines including red and white table wines, sparkling wines and fortified wines which are sold in both domestic and export markets. (Schultz Wines are distributed in Australia by a well respected, family owned wine merchant, and export wine sales are distributed through well established wine merchants in UK, Continental Europe, as well as North American, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific region.) Schultz also achieves its sales through the cellar door sales and The Schultz Cellar Club mail order.

c. What is the current life-cycle position of the industry?

The Australian winemaking industry is at the mature stage of its life cycle. This is demonstrated by the low and medium average growth rate of sales in the industry as shown in Table 2, 5, 6, and low consumption growth as shown in Table 7. Over the last 10 years, the domestic sales has increased by average 4.2% per annum for table wine, 2.3% for sparkling wine and has decreased by average 1% per annum for fortified and other wine. (While the total sales have grown by 14.6% for table wine, this is a result of the significant